1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a process of manufacturing LCDs or PDPs and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for washing and drying glasses for the LCDs or PDPs while being free from leaving any spot on the glasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, it is necessary to keep the surface of a glass used for producing LCDs (liquid crystal displays) or PDPs (plasma display panels) highly clean during a process of manufacturing such LCDs or PDPs. In order to accomplish the above object, the glasses for LCDs or PDPs, which will be referred to simply as "LCD/PDP glasses" hereinbelow, have to be washed and dried during a process of manufacturing the LCDs or PDPs.
FIG. 7 is a plan view, showing a conventional apparatus for washing and drying such LCD/PDP glasses.
As shown in the drawing, the LCD/PDP glass washing and drying apparatus "CD" comprises a plurality of units: a first conveyor unit 1, a washing unit 2, a second conveyor unit 3, a robot 4, an spin dryer unit 5, a third conveyor unit 6, a hot plate unit 7, a cool plate unit 8, and a cassette loader unit 9, which are arranged in order along the longitudinal axis of the apparatus. The first conveyor unit 1 is used for feeding a post-processed LCD/PDP glass to a next step. The washing unit 2 is used for washing the LCD/PDP glass fed by the first conveyor unit 1. The second conveyor unit 3 is used for feeding the glass from the washing unit 2 to a next step. The robot 4 is used for loading or unloading the glass, fed by the second conveyor unit 3, on or from a spin dryer unit 5. The spin dryer unit 5 is used for rotating the glass, loaded thereon by the robot 4, at a high speed, thus primarily drying the glass. The third conveyor unit 6 is used for feeding the glass, dried by the spin dryer unit 5 and unloaded from the unit 5 by the robot 4, to a next step. The hot plate unit 7 is used for thermally heating and finally drying the glass fed by the third conveyor unit 6. The cool plate unit 8 is used for cooling the glass from the hot plate unit 7. The cassette loader unit 9 is used for stacking the glasses from the cool plate unit 8 in a way such that one is laid on top of another.
However, the above LCD/PDP glass washing and drying apparatus "CD" is problematic in that the glass comes into contact with atmospheric air when the glass is fed from the washing unit 2 by the second conveyor unit 3 or is loaded on the spin dryer unit 5 by the robot 4, thus being partially dried with undesirable spots being left on the glass due to washing water. When such spots are left on the glass due to washing water as described above, it is almost impossible to completely remove the spots from the glass even though the glass is completely dried by the spin dryer unit 5. The spots, left on the glass due to the washing water, finally reduce the quality of the resulting LCDs or PDPs.